Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday removed Pervaiz Rashid from the post of information minister over a recent newspaper report which the army had termed as a breach of national security.
“Evidence available so far points to a lapse on the part of the Information Minister, who has been directed to step down from the office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s House.
It added that “the planted story” related to the National Security Committee and National Action Plan meetings published in national daily Dawn on October 6 was “a breach of national security”.
An inquiry committee including senior officers of Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and civil Intelligence Bureau was being formed to clearly apportion blame, identify interests and motives and expose all those who were responsible, the statement said.
The reporter of Dawn, Cyril Almeida, was barred from leaving the country after the publication of the report but his name was later removed from the government’s Exit Control List.
The ministry has been taken back from Pervaiz Rashid until the probe over the leaked story is completed by the inquiry committee.
The source-based report by Cyril Almeida had stated that civilian officials had told the military to act against militant outfits or face international isolation.
The PM’s House then strongly denied the contents of the report and termed it a fabrication.
On October 14, a Corps Commanders Conference chaired by Army Chief General Raheel Sharif expressed serious concern over what it called a “breach of national security.”
The minister’s removal followed a lengthy meeting held by a government team including the finance minister, the interior minister and the Punjab chief minister with the army chief.
